Feeling his meat body lurch Greasy flicks back to his captain's chair and looks at the sensor feeds of the condors to see what the hell Flip's up to as the intercom bursts into life again.

"Damn it Flip where'd you learn to drive? At least hit the bugger... hehe the drones'll be here in a bit so it might be over before the heavies arrive unfortuneately so stay safe and I'll get them here asap"

Setting the condors to hunt for armed targets, Ace's van and to feed the info into the deck and alert him if threatened. Then flicks back into the van he feeds more power to the engine when the sensors see a clear patch.... clear of star that is and slides through as many alleys as will speed the trip and the van'll fit down.....

Seeing Bluebird with THAT look in her eye... he does as is indicated by the TriD phantasm and lays his gun on the floor, now looking exclusively at the slim but deadly women stood with a gun pointed at him, it only takes a couple of secounds... and with an almighty thud as Ace parks his van into Treesongs back, and as Seeoh lays on the ground, she just hears a very unnatural snap!


Gunning the engine Greasy makes good time and is now only secounds away from the target zone.....


As Flip and Codec clear out of the car, out of the Landrover a turret pops out of the roof... having only secounds to move they watch the barrels of a machine gun spinning up to speed.

Seeoh, smirking at the effectiveness of making the now broken backed soldier believe Bluebird was gunning for him, drops the illusion and scrabbles forward to go through the guys pockets. The AK-98 will be useful, if only as a saleable item, not to mention the pistol who's imprint she still felt against the side of her jaw. Spare clips of ammo went into the deep pockets of her leathers along with anything else she could find. Giving the downed grunt a final kick in the head, she ran for Ace's van, keeping her head down and praying no wild shots would come toward her.

The turret gun, running up to speed, captured Flip's entire attention. He grabbed Codec unceremoniously by the scruff of his neck and ran the few yards to the side of the Landrover, knowing the machine gun could never depress far enough to bear on him and the little decker.

Tanks are nasty big things that have armour plating all over them and shoot big guns at innocent runners. So it seems do Landrovers. 'Cept that Lanrovers don’t have so much armour, particularly in their floors. Flip crouched, hoping that the rigger inside was too full of trying to traverse his pop gun to notice, and stuck his hand under the driver's side door. A hand filled with a Browning Maxpower. Praying that no ricochets would hit his ham sized fist, Flip unloaded a full clip up into the driver's compartment.

Hearing, or rather feeling the sirens coming from one of the condor drones Greasy quickly slides the van to a halt in an alley and drops back into his meat. Spotting the turret targeting a *very* unarmoured cheevy with him in it was not what he was really hoping to see.... or ever see really....

Trying with all the speed in can his small body dives out off the back seat and heads for some cover, before jacking back in and giving the drones they're orders. And as Shnauser puts its arms to good use and opens the back door, Eagle the heavy vectored thrust drones heads out on the street scanning for targets and linking, through Greasy, to the more acute sensors of the condors....

As Flip unloads the clip, Codec ducks down and covers his ears, closing his eyes. Drones, turrets, machine guns!!! I'm gonna get fragged big time!!! He finally gets the guts to peak around to take a quick look at what was going on

When he ensured that Seeoh had safely made it into the Roadmaster, he locked all the doors and got moving. Need to be a difficult target when that drone starts making noise...

Elation quickly gave way to mental exhaustion as Seeoh dropped into the passenger seat of Ace's van.
He glanced at her, a huge weapon between her legs and a grin on her face despite the activities of the last five minutes or so, a slightly confused look on his face,

"Drive to the sound of the guns, General!" Was all the Sorceress said.

Somewhere outside the van they could both hear shots going off. Who from and who at was something they had to find out. And soon.

As Greasy gets to the side of the street he slumps against a the far side of a car, as far out of the actual gunfight as is safe. Going into captains chair mode, the drone sensors are sqealing for attention as they pick up multipul targets. Between the two condors they can pick up the van, an enemy drone at the entrance to the carpark and three armed people who arnt on the friendly list, two are in the carpark and therefore arnt in line of fire and there is a third running down an allyway that runs next to the carpark to join in the action.

As Flip empties his clip he has the satisfaction of seeing blood drip down from the bullet holes under the van, but as he does so the landrover starts reversing back down the street in an obvious retreat... Its machine gun opening up in a covering arc of fire, blowing several lumps of steal (or rust!) out of the chevy and peppering most of the rest of the street.

Feeling his rear wheels spinning frantically Ace jams the gearbox back into reverse and watches his rear sensors as he heads backwards toward the door... the only thing standing between the outside world and him is that infernal drone!

The sudden lurch of the van, advancing backwards as many a General would say, caught Seeoh by surprise. She'd had the foresight to automatically clip a seat belt in position when she'd got in, so her face didn't connect with the dashboard, as might otherwise have been the case. Even so, she scraped her chin on the barrel of the AK98 she was holding between her knees.

Taking out one soldier was clearly not going to be the end of this firefight. Seeoh searched for the window release. She might not be a crack shot with anything, but she was damned sure she wasn't going out without a fight, and the AK98 ought to hit something. She just had to point and shoot, right? But the side window had to be out of the way first.

Meanwhile.

The BFG on top of the Landrover, as well as the sound of, probably heavily armed, drones in the immediate vicinity, plus the fact that his gun was out of ammo, gave Flip only two options.

Either run for cover behind the Chevvy, currently being drilled by the aforementioned BFG and, therefore probably not a good idea, or head for the nearest alley way and hope that neither BFG nor Drone got a bead on him and Codec.

Grabbing Codec unceremoniously by the scruff of his neck the giant Orc ran for cover across the street, heading for the darkness and comparative safety of a side alley.

Plastering himself and the bemused little Decker against the downside wall for best cover from the BFG, Flip scrabbled for a spare clip and rammed it into his Browning.
.

Codec, being very scared, covered his ears and closed his eyes. Oh my God this is it!!! I can't believe this is the end!!! When all of a sudden he felt someone, presumably Flip grab him on the collar of his shirt and pull hard Oh my! Where am I going? This is fraggin' crazy!! Despite the fact that Codec looked to see where he was running to, he really didn't know where it was, he merely followed Flip's massive body. Once they reached a wall, Flip, in his ever so nice way, pushed the decker down and out of harm's way. Please let me live Please let me live Please let me live!!!!!!

As Ace's van shunts the drone out of the way he gives it a beating with this 4 ton vehicle rolling over the top of it... out into the street into what would have been a safe area he realises hes come out with the Landrover to his left and has unintentionally got himself between the that and Flip as he fires after the retreating vehicle. As Seeoh thumbs the window butten she opens it up and starts firing single shots at the (thankfully large target) Landrover... but having not really tried this kinda thing before she finds the weopon ackward and hard to handle.
Leaving Greasy hidden behind the car while he calls his drones to open fire on their selected targets, Bluebird picks up her twin pistols and smiles knowingly to herself. Running toward the now empty garage she dives into a roll to bring herself to the entrance, seeing that there were two men and one of them is laying on the floor badly beated... She opens fire on guy on the far side of the garage, who by now is retreating, missing with each shot she makes she gets increasingly agitated!!!

The Irishwoman quickly got irritated with the AK98 not doing what she wanted it to do. "Feckinell, foreign piece of Dragon drek!" Clumping the barrel on the window sill, her thumb catching on a small lever. She peered at it momentarily. `Semi auto, burst fire, full auto' "Why didn't I think of that first?!" Seeoh switched to burst fire and tried again.

Ace was surprised that the drone went down so easily, and even more surprised that he had hit is. That's an odd way to evade...

But in any case, if the drone was not moving, the Landrover might not be under rigger control; and if so, then it was just a person directly operating that gun. Time for a little more industrial moving...

He manuveurs the Roadmaster perpendicular to the landrover and starts to move. Not fast at all, but enough to tip the Landrover while not causing any more than superficial damage to the Roadmaster.

Even though everybody was in the middle of fighting and trying to get Ace out of there... nobody on the ground failed to hear the deafening roar from overhead, as two drones act as one and blow lead into the turret of the landrover... multipul rounds thundering into it until smoke can be seen comming from the target that is obviously now disabled!!

Seeoh, concentrating on getting the AK98 to do what she wants, is surprised by the sudden eruption of the Landrover's turret gun into so much scrap iron, thanks to the timely intervention of the heavy ordnance from Greasy's drones.

Involuntarily, the Sorceress ducks back into the cab of the Roadmaster, snagging the rifle on the edge of the window reveal. "Soon as we get out of this, I'm selling this damned gun. More trouble than it's worth!"

Without thinking about the machinegun-fueled salvation from above, Ace turned the van around to the alley where Flip and Codec were hiding. They all really came to help me out. That's... odd.

He unlocked the back doors and honked the horn. While he waited for them to get in, he thought about whether he should just take off or try to capture someone. The rigger was probably quite wounded, but what about his soldier firends? He unplugged and put the question to Seeoh, Flip and Codec. And, before they answered, he looked out the windshield and said, "Thanks, by the way."

The other team of riggers are all but gone now... having been shown that a fight here and now is more trouble then its worth!!

Seeing the enemy targets bugging out Greasy orders the drones back into his van and then logs off the network to get in the van as well. Plugging back into the nework and watching for incoming with the condor drones, his strangely metallic voice comes over the radios.

"Greasy here the targets seem to be bugging out and we'd better do the same. I sure some people we don't want to meet will have heard that gunfire. You okay Ace? Looks a bit tight to be vehicle fighting down in that parking lot...."

Only slightly puffing from the exertion of the 50 metre run, and heaving the small decker into Ace's van ahead of him, Flip plonked himself down in the back of the van, thankful that he hadn't had to take on the Landrover with his bare hands after all.

Acknowledging Ace's embarrassed `thanks' Flip considered the Rigger's thought on capturing someone. He eyed the now stationary Landrover speculatively. "We should grab as many of them as possible and take that Landrover if possible. The caddy's had it, so we could do with a new set of wheels. Although that's not the only reason for taking it."

Seeoh managed to get the AK98 over the back of her bucket seat and presented it, butt first, to the Orc. "Here, you have it. At least you have the muscles to use the damned thing. Besides, you'll look more impressive when you go and take the Landrover."

Flip took the assault rifle and stepped out of the Roadmaster, sauntering over to the other vehicle, lighting a cigarette as he went, promoting the impression, for the enemy Rigger, of utter control of the current situation.

Tapping his Zippo lighter on the driver's window Flip smiled a suitably Orcish smile which suggested that the occupant might care to exit the vehicle, whilst cradling the Assault Rifle like a new born. And if you don't sonny Jim, I'll set light to your arse.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the near distance, Flip was vaguely aware of Greasy's drone, covering his own arse. Just as well, 'cos the Rigger probably still had a few friends around.

Having gone through this 'near death' experience and then having Flip "help" him into the van, Codec was more than shaken. He tried his best to conceal his anxiety. He didn't care what they did as long as it meant getting their money and ending all of this drek.

As Flip heads over to the van, he hears it crunch into gear and it backs off like a scared animal.... as soon as its put distance between the runners itself, it does a U turn and heads out of the area... but from the way its driving you can tell its driver is in a bad way.

Damn! Bugger and Blast! Flip thought, giving the escaping Landrover a Parthian shot of "Bloody Coward." He ran back to Ace's Roadmaster and poked his head inside. "I guess we'll need a different captive then. Any ideas?"

Seeoh, adrenaline high slowly subsiding, pointed back into the car park. "There's that fella we ran over in there. Don't know how bad he is though. if he's still alive we could patch him up and ask a few polite questions?"

Flip considered the possibilities and shrugged. "Might as well. I'll go get 'im. Bluebird. Keep a sharp lookout till I get back. He might still have a few friends about."

Flip headed back into the parking lot, searching for the downed soldier.

As Greasy's van started to pull away with the combat drones carefully stored in the back, his voice comes over the radio again. "Greasy here, moving my van and it's friends away from here, but I'll keep a condor watching your location in case more targets head in. I'll be close in case trouble kicks up again. The captive would be good but remember the good ol' Stars response to gunfire...... so I expect the donut shops around here will be happy, heh!"

Before Flip heads out, Ace says, "I... wouldn't bother. He got hit pretty damn hard. And if he is still alive after that... do you really want to mess with him? I say we get the hell out of here while we can."

He takes out his P-Sec and calls greasy up: "Another thing to look out for is someone trying to tail us. They came down pretty hard, I doubt they'll want to just give up at this point."

Bluebird looks twitchy... she rarely misses, and comes down hard on herself when she does. "true, but dont forget that he may have something on him to let us know WHY they came down on us in the first place"

"Roger, Ace. I'll have Albatross run overwatch for you and keep an eye out for tails"

Head in his hands, Codec just mumbles, "Can we just go now please...?"

"I'm uncomfortable with the thought of leaving any clues behind that might be of use." Flip grumbled. "If someone is out gunning for you, Ace, then we need to know who - so we can stop them or avoid them. They looked military to me, and this is certainly mil-spec hardware, not ganger-drek... let me snag the body and we'll make tracks."

"I agree. But there's also Mr Kitao's run to consider. If we're in the middle of something and Ace's friends show up we could be in serious trouble. We need intell on these guys, if only to keep them off our backs while we sort out the Kitao run." Seeoh glanced at Flip, wanting to say more but thinking better of it. She was just a Sorceress, not a soldier, so what would she know about the niceties of tactics.

Bluebird sniggers..."why don't we let these mil guys tag along for the joyride, if we are lucky they will blow the boat up for us!!"

Flip harumphed. "So we go back to the harbour leaving a trail any snot nosed kid could follow."

Seeoh grinned. "Make a move on the boatyard where we know the new ship is and then dodge as the missiles fly in." She laughed out loud. "Oh yeah! With the way our luck's been running lately, we'll trip over a match stick just as we try to dodge and get blown to drek for our trouble."

The Orc looked at the Irishwoman. "Where's your sense of adventure Me little colleen. ?" Flip tried an abysmal Irish accent. "Bluebird may be on to something though." He looked out at the car park. "It's obvious that those soldier boys, whoever they were..." He looked meaningfully at Ace. "…have gone to ground, along with that Landrover. So there's no point wasting time looking for any leftovers. My vote would be to pick up where we left off. We've reported our findings to our benefactor and he's told us to cack the Ship. So that's what we do."

There seemed to be a tacit agreement from the rest of the Team and Ace fired the Roadmaster, Greasy following close behind, and headed for the harbour. Kitao had already given them their brief, "…! I propose that you scuttle this ship.... not in harbour, because then they will just bribe the relevant parties and repair it... but I want you to scuttle it out at sea.... which still left them with the problem of a) waiting till the ship sailed, and b) stowing a suitable explosive aboard, timed to go off once the ship was in the deep water channel, six miles out. Seeoh, for all of her assumption that she wasn't a tactician, said as much to the Team as they travelled.

"Personally," Flip added, "I'd prefer to acquire an aircraft of some description and land the fragger on the Ship at maximum warp. Kinda, play toy aircraft carriers." He grinned broadly. "That way we have minimum exposure and cause maximum chaos. We could even put a tail banner on it saying, This way to the Triad Smugglers. fly it past a roving TriD snoop chopper and have them follow us in to the scene of the crime. Mr Kitao would like that amount of adverse publicity for his Enemies, I'm sure."

Bluebird laughed at the Orc's plan and wished they really could do something that hairbrained! "Somehow I dont think the boat will be THAT big!!"

Codec glanced at Flip with a sort of Are-you-insane? look on his face. He then closes his eyes and starts to rub his head I can't believe this!!! We're going to get fragged so bad. It isn't a laughing matter. is what was running through the little decker's mind
Okay okay, pull yourself together, it'll all be okay. These guys won't let anything happen to you....well at least not on purpose... not that that was any reassurance to Codec

Ace said nothing while they talked about trying to find out who was following him. Truth was, the second he saw Treesong, he knew who it was, and had a more than decent idea of why. And really, he did not want all of them knowing it. The sooner they got out and the less info they had the better. They might be friends, but just letting that sort of thing go out in the open, letting them all finger the hole in his head where the suits and black ops who were really running things ripped out something he shouldn't have seen... He didn't relish the thought.

So he was glad when Flip suggested getting on with business. Even more glad when he brought up the idea of an airial assault. "A plane? God, that is the best idea I've heard in a while. I can think of a really wiz pilot without too much trouble. I'm damn sure he can handle any fixed wing craft by remote; that is, if we really want to resort to remote usage for this, and not have someone live and in the air..."

Bluebird looks around the team, "but Kiteo said that we could ransack the boat as well... so if we could take out the crew why dont we steal the cargo and the scuttle the ship? problem is we would need to use either a boat, a chopper or a plane with the ability to hover....lets be honest here, if we want to set ourselves up as serious runners and get out from under Kiteo's thumb then we are going to need to get the kit together to take on the bigger runs with the bigger rewards"

"You've got a valid point there, Bluebird." Flip nodded thoughtfully. The discussion continued, based largely around the need to do the job with as little exposure as possible. The Triads hold a grudge like - forever, and all of the Team knew it. So a tail banner was definitely out.

Seeoh had kept mostly silent during the discussion "Don't they have air taxis in Seattle?"

"Yeah!" Flip said. "So what?"

"Couldn't we boost one and use it?" The Irishwoman looked innocently at the big Orc.

"We will need something that will be big enough to make a water landing to steal the cargo. If that's the plan." A sudden thought occurred to the Orc. "Hang about. The Farm's on the coast. It's so simple we didn't see it."

The Team became attentive as the Orc continued. "We boost a taxi, like Seeoh suggested. Then wait till the Ship makes a run. No problem with dockyard security that way. Once the Ship's off the coast near the farm, we drop down onto it, take out the crew and sail into the shore. Off load the cargo into Ace and Greasy's transport then set the Ship's auto pilot to head off into the wild blue yonder. Pack it with explosives and one of the Drones can detonate it when it's far enough out." Flip looked expectantly at the Team, waiting for them to shoot holes in the plan.

Oh my God that's absolutely crazy! I've never heard anything more crazier in my entire life!!! was all that initially ran through Codec's head...then he pondered over it for a second,
Wow, actually that doesn't sound too bad at all. Pretty straight forward and seemingly simple. Not quite a use for a decker, but I suppose I could give it a shot...
"Uh...um...that doesn't sound t..t...too b..bad..."

Bluebird looks thoughtful and simpley says..."you wouldnt even need much in the way of explosives, because as long as you set a decent charge below the waterline then it will sink itself anyway..."

"Hell, a grenade might breach it. But I like the air taxi idea. Most of those are choppers. I can handle them just fine."

I hope I wasn't being to obtuse with that "I know a pilot" nonsense...

The farm was more or less as the Team had left it and within a short space of time Seeoh had a good fire going in the range and bacon and eggs frying in two large griddle pans. All the excitement of recovering Ace had put an edge on every ones appetite and who could blame them.

"So," She said as eggs slipped onto plates along with sizzling bacon, fried tomatoes and fried bread. "Who's got the grenades? Or do we have to go and buy some?"

"More to the point," Flip stuffed his mouth with fried bread, spluttering crumbs as he spoke. "Where do we get an air taxi?"

"Phone for one." Seeoh offered as she put a big pot of steaming soycaf on the table along with a half dozen mugs. "When we see the Ship cast off, we call for a taxi. No point in having it here too soon with the meter running." She grinned. Like they were going to pay for the taxi in the first place.

"What about the driver?" The Orc stuffed a rasher into his mouth.

"We bribe him to loan us his ride." Seeoh shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, with nine millimetres and a parachute a thousand feet up. We call it for a pick up a mile or so down the road, not too close to the farm. Ace and Greasy step in and Bluebird waves her toys under his nose." Flip almost picked up his plate to lick it clean, but thought better of it as he looked at the Sorceress..

"Too soon." Seeoh glared at the Orc, daring him to abuse his table manners. "Wait until he's airborne and headed out over the bay. Like you said, you big lummox, a thousand feet up will be very persuasive." She sat down and handed a slice of dry bread to Flip. "Use that on the fat."

Flip wiped his plate, his brow furrowing. "I'm thinking we won't get a taxi to come out this far. We'll have to go into SeaTac's International airport and steal a Cesna or something." He pushed the plate away as the fat laden bread went into his mouth.

Seeoh looked at the Orc. "I know I'm just a lowly woman, so far as our Employer's concerned, but wouldn't he have a contact? Perhaps he could get us an aircraft. We're doing it for him after all."

"Or at the very least the Yaks will have someone on the inside at SeaTac to give us an in." Flip looked pointedly at Bluebird, remembering her history, or lack of it, from their last run. Which reminded him of something else. "As to the grenades. I've still got some stashed that we bought for the last run and never used, so there's no outlay there."

Conversation continued as Flip allowed his inventive mind to wander. The Triads have many enemies apart from the Yakusa. The Mafia, the Vory and the Seoulpa to name but three. How pleased would Mr Kitao be if the Team managed to lay blame for the destruction of the Ship at the door of one of those groups. Maybe even the Ancients, at a push. The Orc said as much during a lull in the discussion, seeing consternation bursting onto the faces of his friends.

Realising that the others didnt have the background in destruction that she did, she decided to put in her opinion..."a grenade might not do it, because it simpley makes a big bang, and besides...the time needed to get clear of the boat before it goes up is not enough. Plastic explosive would be much better, that way you can shape the charges so that you have one that blows the hull out and anther say... on the fuel tank to destroy any evidence." She then goes quiet for a secound, feeling slightly guilty over picking holes in the action plan...."Also, as the air taxi's are so paranoid about people hi-jacking, I know for a fact that they have sealed pilots areas which have bullit proof plating... they probably have panic buttons to the Star as well"

All in all, the plan started to look like a wash out. Seeoh cleared the plates and started the washing up, handing a tea towel to the big Orc.

"There's no use getting downhearted." She said as Flip started to dry the dishes. "Besides, Mr Kitao can hardly expect us to complete his mission without any real resources. Why don't you give him a call?"

"I doubt he'd be too pleased. He's employing us to do the job, so he expects us to do it without involving him. Besides, we don't have his number." Flip stacked the dishes and put them back in the cupboard.

Seeoh rinsed the sink. "Yes you do. He gave you a contact number so you could tell him when we'd finished the last job. Try it, it won't have been a one off number I'm sure." She dried her hands as Flip got out his cell and searched for the number.

"Mr Kitao? Flip. We've hit a problem and need a contact at the SeaTac airport. Would you know anyone there, Sir?"

The Team waited for the Orc to either look glum or give one of his infectious smiles, depending upon Mr Kitao's response. Either way, the run was still on, brick walls notwithstanding.

The standard procedure was followed, somebody (who was not Kiteo) answered the phone and then hung up straight away once ID had been established... and then secounds later the phone rings back. After explaining the situation Flip explains the situation... Kiteo leaves one of those ackward silences, letting this runner know what an inconveniance it was for him. "I have a guard there who is on my payroll, I will not disclose information about him as he is a valuable resource to me in inport/export activities and I dont want him put at risk. You can pass any issues on to me and I will act as your middleman, for a fee of course, that is the best I am prepared to offer considering I expect you to handle any issues yourselves... do you agree to the terms, any information will cost 5000 and any expected help will vary in cost depending on associated risk etc"

Calling the bossman for help... damn, we're in bad shape. As flip is on the phone, Ace leans towards Codec and says, "Hey, is there any way you can deck into the airport files and get us a plane? So we don't look like real amateurs?"

Sitting up straight at the thought of heading back into his beloved Matrix, Codec nods "y..yeah.P..Piece of c..c..cake."
Damn why didn't I think of that? That should have been my first thought!!!
Whispering to Ace, Codec says "Though I think we're a little late on the looking-like-amateurs situation."

"….do you agree to the terms, any information will cost 5000 and any expected help will vary in cost depending on associated risk etc" Flip's look of consternation prompted Seeoh to ask what was wrong.

"He wants 5K just for acting as a middleman. We can't afford that .. can we?" The Sorceress shook her head with a definite No! "Sorry to have troubled you Mr Kitao. I think we'll work something out on our own after all." Flip switched off the cell.

"Codec's going into the Matrix." Seeoh nodded toward the little decker. "He's good and he's bound to find us a plane." There was something still bothering the Sorceress, Flip could tell.

"What's on your mind Seeoh?"

"Water Elementals. If we're on the ship we can't escape by sea. They'll destroy us before we've gone ten yards."

"They may have just been dockyard security, not part of the ship's defences. But, I suppose, it'd be best to be on the safe side." The Orc turned to the decker as he jacked in. "If you find a plane, make sure it's got pontoons." He glanced at Seeoh. "Water Elementals can't fly ..can they?"

"Only in a thunderstorm. How the hell should I know. Dammit Flip, I'm a Sorceress not a Conjurer!! "

Embracing the Matrix Codec felt liberated, back in his element so to speak. He walked down the virtual street not really paying attention to any of the other icons. Codec approaches what appears to be a vid-phone booth and steps inside. Picking up the phone book inside he does a quick little search through the advertising section for rental aircraft and came upon an ad for:

The Sky's the Limit
Recreationals Tours, Aviation Rentals

Hmm, sounds like a good place to start, see what my options are
He stepped out of the booth and whistled for a taxi. In no time flat one was right in front of him and he got in.
"Sky's the Limit" and with that the automatic taxi flew off, rising over the virtual city. Moving over the commercial grid, everything seemed brighter, more lights, more traffic. The taxi moved across the center of the action and landed just a little outside, at a tiny building with a replica of a very old plane out fron. Codec got out of the cab and almost instantly it was off. He started to walk up the walkway and paused just long enough to start reading the plaque by this replica
'It was in the early twentieth century when two brothers...'
"Yeah yeah whatever..." and the decker went inside.

Inside the building Codec looked around. Their were many pictures on the wall of various aircraft, new and old. There were model planes hanging from the ceiling while others were in display cases. After a short while a man came out of a back room. He was sporting the get-up similar to a few people Codec had seen posing in the pictures on the wall. Leathery-type jacket, some sort of funny hat and goggles, a white scarf around his neck...

"Welcome! Is there anything in particular I can help you with? Flying lessons? Rentals? We offer many downloads on historic aircraft. You can order all sorts of memorabilia through us here...."

"Rentals actually," said Codec with a warm smile, "I was hoping to find something that could hold a few people. You know, go for a spin over the coast..."
"Ahhh havin' a party eh?"
"Yup. Old friend of mine is heading back this way, haven't seen him in a while. Thought it'd be great to hook up with a few of our buddies, go for a spin."
"Would you be needing a pilot as well?"
"Oh no I don't think so, one of our buddies is pretty good. he asked that I come in and see if you had anything."
"In fact I'd have just what you need! Our Bell Boeing V-22B Osprey line is very good for your needs." The man went into his description of the craft, citing different points to the variants that he has and the costs. Codec listened and was sort of impressed on how versatile this model was, though inside he chuckled since truthfully, he had no intention of paying for anything.
"Hmmm, well they do seem to fit our needs. Do you happen to have anything I could take that lays out all of what you said?" The man in the pilot outfit handed him a sheet of paper which Codec tucked inside his jacket. Thanking the man and saying that he'd be in touch, Codec exited the store and jacked out of the Matrix.
Pulling up the file on his screen he brought his deck into the kitchen and sat down at the table.
"Executive, cargo or Commuter?" he asked with a smile.

Sitting around, supping soycaf, the Team had waited patiently for Codec to finish his wanderings in cyberspace. The umpteenth mugs of the, by now, foul tasting ersatz coffee, cooling, virtually untouched, on the table were joined by the little decker's laptop and it's flickering screen.

"Executive, cargo or Commuter?" He asked with a smile.

Moving around the small screen, with several oohs and aahs, the Team admired the refined lines of what might, very soon, become their transport for the main event.

"Bell Boeing V-22B Osprey?" Flip glanced at Ace. "If you can fly one of these beauties, I suggest we get the cargo variant. Apart from the fact that we'll need the space, it's bound to be cheaper than a commuter or executive type."

"If we get one, where do we pick it up?" Seeoh asked. "Just popping into SeTac International and climbing aboard a charter loaded for bear and with several pounds of C12 under our arms is just possibly going to arouse suspicion." She smiled, innocently.

"If we get one, where do we pick it up?" Seeoh asked. "Just popping into SeTac International and climbing aboard a charter loaded for bear and with several pounds of C12 under our arms is just possibly going to arouse suspicion." She smiled, innocently.

Feeling pretty good about himself, Codec piped up, not quite as nervous, "I...uh..thought about that. I think I could get into their system and place a fake rental request. You know, stating that the customer already paid in advance, and ...um...someone would need to go and get it....uh...pretending to uh...be that person..."

I can't believe I just said that! Oh my, that won't work! What was I thinking!?!

"That's fits the bill, I suppose. If Ace is up to it?" He nodded to the Rigger. "It's just a matter of timing." He looked back at Codec. "Still, if you book it for a week, that should cover it." The big Orc seemed to like the idea of not paying for the Osprey, at least.

Our main problem's going to be when to get the plane." Seeoh added. "From what Codec has on its specs, it'll be easy enough to get the plane and fly it here to the farm." Seeoh glanced out of the window. "The big barn should be large enough to hide it till it's needed."

"Which brings us to what I just said. Timing." Flip stood up and paced around, making the floorboards creak horrendously; but he thought better if he was pacing. "At the moment we have no idea when the Eighty Eights are intending to set sail. The only thing we know for sure is that, when they do, the Ship's gotta pass this headland, it's the only way out of the harbour."

"Don't they have to file a sailing time, or course and destination, with the Harbourmaster or something?" Seeoh went to the sink to clean out the grounds from the coffee pot and set a new brew going.

"Well, yes. I suppose they do, normally. But this is the Eighty Eights. They probably don't do things `normally'." Flip paused in his pacing. "Even so. I wonder?" He turned to the decker. "Can you hack in to the Harbour Master's 'puter? See what their normal routine would be and how easy it might be to set up an alarm of some sort to warn when a particular Captain files his sailing time?"

All eyes turned to the diminutive decker.